Editing Grammatical number (section)

===Singular and plural===
{{Main |Plural}}

One of the simplest number distinctions a language can make is singular and plural. Singular denotes exactly one referent, while plural denotes more than one referent. For example, in English:<ref name="Corbett2000p5">{{cite book |last=Corbett |first=Greville G. |author-link=Greville G Corbett |year=2004 |orig-year=2000 |title=Number |series=Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=5–6 |isbn=0-511-01591-7 }}</ref>

*''dog'' (singular, one)
*''dog'''s''''' (plural, two or more)

To mark number, English has different singular and plural forms for nouns and verbs (in the third person): "my dog watch'''es''' television" (singular) and "my dog'''s''' watch television" (plural).<ref name="Corbett2000p5"/> This is not universal: [[Wambaya language|Wambaya]] marks number on nouns but not verbs,<ref>{{cite book |last=Nordlinger |first=Rachel |author-link=Rachel Nordlinger |year=1998 |title=A Grammar of Wambaya, Northern Territory (Australia) |series=Pacific Linguistics: Series C - no. 140 |location=Canberra |publisher=Australian National University |pages=72–78, 157–158 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281594172 |access-date=2024-03-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240310162854/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rachel-Nordlinger/publication/281594172_A_Grammar_of_Wambaya/links/55ef7b5b08aedecb68fdb346/A-Grammar-of-Wambaya.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-10 |isbn=0-85883-481-2 }}</ref> and [[Onondaga language|Onondaga]] marks number on verbs but not nouns.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chafe |first=Wallace L. |author-link=Wallace Chafe |year=1970 |title=A Semantically Based Sketch of Onondaga |series=Indiana University Publications in Anthropology and Linguistics, Memoir 25 of the International Journal of American Linguistics (Supplement to Vol. 36, No. 2) |location=Baltimore |publisher=Waverly Press |page=31 }}</ref> [[Latin]] has different singular and plural forms for nouns, verbs, ''and'' adjectives, in contrast to English where adjectives do not change for number.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wheelock |first=Frederic M. |author-link=Frederic M. Wheelock |others=Revised by Richard A. LaFleur |year=2011 |title=Wheelock's Latin |edition=7th |location=New York |publisher=Collins Reference |pages=2–4, 14–15 |isbn=978-0-06-199722-8 }}</ref> [[Tundra Nenets language|Tundra Nenets]] can mark singular and plural on nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and [[Preposition and postposition|postpositions]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Nikolaeva |first=Irina |author-link=Irina Nikolaeva (linguist) |year=2014 |title=A Grammar of Tundra Nenets |series=Mouton Grammar Library, vol. 65 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |pages=9–10, 50, 57–59, 78–80, 151–154, 178–180, 188 |isbn=978-3-11-032064-0 }}</ref> However, the most common part of speech to show a number distinction is pronouns.<ref>{{cite book |last=Forchheimer |first=Paul |year=1953 |title=The Category of Person in Language |language=en, de |location=Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=12–13 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Daniel |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Daniel (linguist) |editor-last1=Haspelmath |editor-first1=Martin |editor-link1=Martin Haspelmath |editor-last2=Dryer |editor-first2=Matthew S. |editor-link2=Matthew Dryer |editor-last3=Gil |editor-first3=David |editor-link3=David Gil (linguist) |editor-last4=Comrie |editor-first4=Bernard |editor-link4=Bernard Comrie |year=2005 |title=The World Atlas of Language Structures |chapter=Plurality in Independent Personal Pronouns |chapter-url=https://wals.info/chapter/35 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=146–149 [146] |access-date=2024-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240121142453/https://wals.info/chapter/35 |archive-date=2024-01-21 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.3606197 |isbn=978-0-19-925591-7 }}</ref> An example of a personal pronoun system distinguishing singular and plural is that of [[Wayoró language|Wayoró]]:<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=de Souza Nogueira |first=Antônia Fernanda |year=2019 |title={{lang|pt|Predicação na Língua Wayoro (Tupi): Propriedades de Finitude|cat=no}} |language=pt |url=https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-14082019-101006/publico/2019_AntoniaFernandaDeSouzaNogueira_VCorr.pdf |page=15 |publisher=University of São Paulo |access-date=2024-02-22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619105256/https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8139/tde-14082019-101006/publico/2019_AntoniaFernandaDeSouzaNogueira_VCorr.pdf |archive-date=2020-06-19 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Wayoró pronouns
|-
!
! Singular
! Plural
|-
! First (exc.)
| {{lang|wyr|on}}
| {{lang|wyr|ote}}
|-
! First (inc.)
| -
| {{lang|wyr|txire}}
|-
! Second
| {{lang|wyr|en}}
| {{lang|wyr|djat}}
|-
! Third
| {{lang|wyr|ndeke}}
| {{lang|wyr|ndeat}}
|}